‘That’s the hard part’: Mavs owner Mark Cuban says he doesn’t see NBA returning to play with fans

Cuban also said if players think they need to wear masks, “we’re probably trying to play too early.”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban disputes an official's call during the second half of a NBA matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 at American Airlines Center in Dallas.(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)

It’s been over a month since the NBA suspended its season because of the coronavirus threat.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said the hard part about the NBA returning will be trying to have fans in attendance.

“It’s no question that’s the hard part. Because when are people going to feel confident enough to go to big gatherings? It’s going to be difficult to start off with 25 people let alone 15,000," Cuban said in an interview with TMZ. "We’re just going to have to defer to the scientists, the doctors who will tell us what we need to do to get the arenas in shape to be able to accept people and for those people to have confidence.

“If a player thinks that they need a mask in order to play, we’re probably trying to play too early. There’s too much uncertainty. That’ll be a good gauge for us to try to determine whether it’s time to play. I don’t see us playing with fans, but I think maybe players will discuss it, maybe a player will try it and then they’ll realize how difficult it is and it won’t happen in an actual game.”

Last month, Cuban expressed some optimism about a return to play, predicting the league would start “to get back to normal” in mid-May. Since then, Cuban’s tempered his optimistic outlook, saying on ESPN’s Get Up that he has “no idea” about a possible timeline for the NBA to return.

“All the experts have got to say it will be absolutely safe," Cuban said. "We cannot put anything ahead of the health and safety of our players and staff. That’s it. It’s such a moving target and nobody really has specifics, so I haven’t had any conversations where anybody has even discussed an actual date at this point.”

As for now, Cuban said the American Airlines Center is already looking at ways to improve sanitization in the arena for fans by using augmented reality.

“At the American Airlines Center, we’re already talking about not only the sanitization and sterilization efforts, but how can we label things like chairs or escalator handles so that people know that they’ve been cleaned," Cuban said. "Or do we do an augmented reality software app where people can point their phone at any device in the arena or any location in the arena and know when it was last cleaned and what was done to it.”

Selby Lopez, Digital Sports Producer. Since graduating from UT-Arlington in Dec. 2017, Selby Lopez joined The Dallas Morning News staff as a digital sports producer. He also is the beat reporter for the WNBA's Dallas Wings and is a blogger for all Baylor sports.